As to the _Belinda_, she was a leaky old tub and well insured, so neither the owners nor I are likely to break our hearts over her." "I am afraid," said my father sadly, "that we shall never see your three passengers again.

I have left men upon the beach in case they should be washed up, but I fear it is hopeless.

I saw them go down when the vessel split, and no man could have lived for a moment among that terrible surge." "Who were they ?" I asked.

"I could not have believed that it was possible for men to appear so unconcerned in the face of such imminent peril." "As to who they are or were," the captain answered, puffing thoughtfully at his pipe, "that is by no means easy to say.

Our last port was Kurrachee, in the north of India, and there we took them aboard as passengers for Glasgow.